While many universities offer MBA degrees, AU’s online program has proven to stand out from the rest, claiming the title of “Third Best Online MBA Program in Indiana.”
With a wide range of courses and program options, AU competed and won against other online programs at colleges like Purdue University, Indiana University and University of Indianapolis.
AU’s MBA program was created around 30 years ago and was considered quite innovative. While other universities offered MBA programs, they were typically residential programs that required adults to abandon their jobs to pursue full-time education.
AU provided an opportunity for adults to continue working while still taking classes once a week to obtain an MBA degree. This proved attractive to many who could not quit working, as it was and remains a program designed for the working professional.
An online MBA program was created four years ago, allowing students to choose a full-time residential option, completely online option or take some courses online and others on campus. Few programs mirror the same flexibility found in AU’s MBA program.
Flexibility is not the only characteristic found in the MBA programs at AU. The Falls School of Business also offers a variety of courses in business, marketing and even culture and leadership, preparing students to be well-rounded in whatever field they enter. Students come from any and every major, from engineering to English, and still receive skills and knowledge to aid in any career.
MBA courses are almost all taught by full-time faculty, rather than adjunct professors, a unique and beneficial quality that is often difficult to find in MBA programs. A full-time student can complete the MBA program in just 10 months, and a working professional attending classes once a week can complete the program in just 22 months, less than two years. The program aims to prepare graduate students for success while providing great flexibility and many paths.
Despite working in many different areas on his career path, Dr. David Brewer has found a home as MBA Director at AU. Brewer explained that some of the best and most unique aspects of AU’s MBA program include flexibility and convenience, personalized curriculum and the integration of faith and business.
“The financial bottom line is not the only bottom line that matters. There is a lot of talk in business now, about triple bottom lines or multiple bottom lines where you also consider the environment, you consider your employees and you consider the community,” said Brewer. “We also work really hard to incorporate and integrate what it means to be a follower of Jesus and be in marketing or financing. How do you live out your faith in business and how do you, in the practice of business, understand God, yourself and others better?”
Brewer also described some of the goals of the program.
“We want to equip people to be faith-based leaders in their workplaces, whatever their workplaces may end up being,” he said. “Our goal is not just to help people get more money or a higher-ranking job. Our goal is to help people discover who they are and open it up to people so they can give themselves options later on: they have enough foundation, but they also have enough perspective.”